Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-209). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 208-217). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.

Demand for new underground transportation systems and utility networks has increased the use of tunneling in soft ground. Many of these tunnels have to be constructed in difficult soil conditions, with strict constraints on ground movement control. Technological advances, such as the pressurized shield or the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), have, to some extent, overcome these difficulties. But the complex interaction between tunneling procedure, ground response, and liner support is still not fully understood. In this dissertation, the three aspects of tunneling, face stability, liner design, and ground surface settlement are analyzed for conditions that might be experienced on current projects. The study is intended to clarify some of the phenomena associated with the use of advanced tunneling techniques in soft grounds, and help improve the current design practice. The NATM generally uses "hand-mining" equipment for excavation, and shotcrete as temporary support of the tunnel wall. The amount and timing of support is optimized by continuously adapting the construction procedure to the conditions found at the tunnel face. In the present study, the applications of the finite element method to tunneling are reviewed, and it is used to model NATM tunneling projects. Using parametric studies, a simplified design method is proposed which allows an estimate of the liner forces and settlements associated with NATM tunneling to be obtained. Pressurized shields are used in soils with little to zero stand-up time to support the tunnel face during excavation. In this work, the face stability of shield tunnels in cohesionless soils is examined using limit analysis principles. Upper bound estimates of the critical face pressure are found in good agreement with results from centrifuge model tests. Empirical correlations for settlement estimates are re-examined, in view of case history data for shield driven tunnels. The ground movements observed on the F3 and F4 contracts of the Washington Metro are analyzed. Earth pressure balance shields were used on these projects. It is shown that difliculties were common in mixed face conditions, unless adequate techniques were used to prevent ground collapse to occur. / Ph. D.

Underground tunnels are considered to be a vital infrastructure component in most cities around the world. Careful planning is always necessary to ensure minimum impact on nearby surface and subsurface structures. This thesis describes the experimental and numerical investigations carried out at McGill University to examine the effect of existing pile foundation on the stresses developing in a newly constructed tunnel supported by a flexible lining system. A small scale testing facility was designed and built to simulate the process of tunnel excavation and lining installation in the close vicinity of pre-installed piles. Lining stresses were measured for different separation distances between the tunnel and the existing piles. Significant decrease in circumferential stresses was observed when the lining was installed at a distance that ranges between one to three times the tunnel diameter from the piles. Two-dimensional finite element analyses were also conducted to investigate the different aspects of the pile-soil-lining interaction including lining deformation, axial forces and bending moments. The measured lining stresses agreed with those obtained using finite element analysis. The results presented in this study provided an insight into understanding an important aspect of this soil-structure interaction problem.

No description available.

The use of sprayed concrete lining is common in tunneling practice since it allows the application of non-circular tunnel sections and complex tunnel intersections. Low capital cost of construction equipment is also an important factor for the selection of the sprayed concrete lining. In general the use of sprayed concrete lining is referred as New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM). Depending on the requirements regarding tunnel heading stability and limitations on tunneling induced soil displacements, tunnel cross sections often advanced by different construction sequences and round lengths in NATM. For the purpose of assessing the effects of excavation sequence, round length, soil stiffness and tunnel depth on surface settlements and on tunnel lining forces, a parametric study has been carried out, considering short-term and long-term soil response. Three dimensional finite element analysis are performed to model the excavation sequence and stress distribution around the tunnel lining during excavation. The parameters used in the parametric study can be listed as: tunnel diameter, tunnel depth, round length and soil stiffness. Existing analytical and empirical solutions, which are used for prediction of ground subsidence due to tunneling and forces on tunnel lining, are also reviewed in this study / and their predictions are compared with the results obtained from numerical analysis. This comparison also provides an opportunity to evaluate the performance of the existing efforts. The variations between the results obtained from different methods are discussed and it is concluded that the limitations of the existing methods are the primary reason of the variations between results.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of London, 1996. / BLDSC reference no.: DX209604. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: Concrete design has recently seen a shift in focus from prescriptive specifications to performance based specifications with increasing demands for sustainable products. Fiber reinforced composites (FRC) provides unique properties to a material that is very weak under tensile loads. The addition of fibers to a concrete mix provides additional ductility and reduces the propagation of cracks in the concrete structure. It is the fibers that bridge the crack and dissipate the incurred strain energy in the form of a fiber-pullout mechanism. The addition of fibers plays an important role in tunnel lining systems and in reducing shrinkage cracking in high performance concretes. The interest in most design situations is the load where cracking first takes place. Typically the post crack response will exhibit either a load bearing increase as deflection continues, or a load bearing decrease as deflection continues. These behaviors are referred to as strain hardening and strain softening respectively. A strain softening or hardening response is used to model the behavior of different types of fiber reinforced concrete and simulate the experimental flexural response. Closed form equations for moment-curvature response of rectangular beams under four and three point loading in conjunction with crack localization rules are utilized. As a result, the stress distribution that considers a shifting neutral axis can be simulated which provides a more accurate representation of the residual strength of the fiber cement composites. The use of typical residual strength parameters by standards organizations ASTM, JCI and RILEM are examined to be incorrect in their linear elastic assumption of FRC behavior. Finite element models were implemented to study the effects and simulate the load defection response of fiber reinforced shotcrete round discrete panels (RDP's) tested in accordance with ASTM C-1550. The back-calculated material properties from the flexural tests were used as a basis for the FEM material models. Further development of FEM beams were also used to provide additional comparisons in residual strengths of early age samples. A correlation between the RDP and flexural beam test was generated based a relationship between normalized toughness with respect to the newly generated crack surfaces. A set of design equations are proposed using a residual strength correction factor generated by the model and produce the design moment based on specified concrete slab geometry. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering 2011